Magnetic device



United States Patent Ice 3,239,726 MAGNETIC DEVICE John Carroll Baisch, 609 S. Washington Ave., Whittier, Calif. Filed Sept. 27, 1960, Ser. No. 58,787 7 Claims. (Cl. 317159) This invention relates generally to magnetic devices and relates more particularly to permanent magnetic devices.

While the invention has particular utility embodied in small hand magnets, and is shown and described embodied therein, it is to be understood that its utility is not confined thereto.

As is well known certain difliculties and problems are encountered with permanent magnets. For example, material picked up by such magnets often is difiicult to remove therefrom, particularly when such material is in the form of relatively small or fine particles.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a permanent magnet which will overcome such difliculties and solve such problems.

It is another object of the invention .to provide a device of this character which is fully effective in picking up magnetically attractable material but which is adapted to release such material when the user desires to effect such release.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a device of this character that is simple and durable in construction.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of this character that is easy to use and operate.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a device of this character that is effective and reliable in use.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device of this character that is relatively inexpensive to manufacture.

The characteristics and advantages of the invention are further sufliciently referred to in connection with the following detailed description of the accompanying drawings, which represent certain embodiments. After consideration of these examples, skilled persons will understand that variations may be made without departing from the principles disclosed and I contemplate the employment of any structures, arrangements or modes of operation that are properly within the scope of the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings, which are for illustrative purposes only:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a permanent magnetic device embodying the present invention, a portion of the outer housing being broken away on the line 1--1 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 2 is a section of the housing taken on line 22 of FIG. 1, the core being shown in end elevation;

FIG. 3 is a section through the housing per so taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the housing with a portion broken away;

FIG. 5 is an end elevation of the entire device;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view through the core taken on line 66 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 7 is a side elevation of the core;

FIG. 8 is an alternative arrangement of the housing;

FIG. 9 is an alternative arrangement, showing a core for use in the housing shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is another alternative housing arrangement; and

FIG. 11 is a top plan view of the housing shown in FIG. 10.

Referring more particularly to FIGS. 1 to 7 of the drawings, there is shown a housing or casing assembly Patented Mar. 8, 1966 indicated generally at 10, which is elongated and of generally U shape in cross section. The housing is of nonmagnetic material and has side walls 12, a bottom wall 14 and end walls 16, the housing being open at the top, as viewed in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 5.

Within the housing and disposed at the inner sides of the side walls 12 are respective poles pieces 18 which are of any suitable well-known temporarily magnetizable material such as soft iron, soft steel or the like.

The lower edges of the pole pieces 18 rest on the bottom wall 14 and said pole pieces are held against upward displacement by flanges 20 along the upper edges of the respective side walls 12, said flanges overlying and engaging the upper edges of the respective pole pieces. The pole pieces are held securely against the inner sides of the side Walls 12 by inwardly extending parts 22 of the end walls 16, said parts 22 extending inwardly of the cavity space 24 of the housing assembly and between end portions of the pole pieces.

The housing may be of any suitable material, such as pot metal, aluminum, or the like, or it may be of a suitable plastic material of any well known type. Further, the pole pieces may be otherwise secured to the side walls 12. For example, said pole pieces may be attached by means of any suitable well-known adhesive. It is also to be understood that the pole pieces could be attached to the outer sides of the casing side walls 12.

The core assembly is indicated generally at 30 and comprises a permanent magnet element 32 and a handle 34. Any suitable type of magnet element may be used although the element shown herein is of the ceramic type, such as, for example, an Indox magnet manufactured by the Indiana Steel Products Company. There are, of course, other types of ceramic magnets manufactured by other companies. Also an Alnico magnet may be used or other suitable magnet.

Element 32 is magnetized parallel to the thickness thereof so that the pole pieces will be properly magnetized in accordance With the north and south polarity of the opposite sides of the element 32.

Handle 34 of the core assembly is part of material enclosing the element 32, such material being non-magnetic and providing side, end, and bottom Walls 36, 38, and 40 of a casing for said element 32. The handle 34 provides a top casing Wall and said handle extends upwardly of the element 32 a suflicient distance so as to be easily grasped or engaged by the fingers of the user. It is desirable for the handle to extend the length of the magnetic element although this is not essential. In order that the handle may be more easily gripped there are grooves 42 which extend along the sides of the handle and adjacent its lower end.

Core 30 is shorter than the length of the cavity 24 of the housing and the width of said core is sufficiently less than the width of said cavity to permit the core to be easily inserted into and removed from said cavity. However, there is means for retaining the core in the fully inserted position and said means comprises reducing the Width of the cavity at the bottom thereof, as at 44, sufficiently to provide sufficient frictional engagement with the bottom part of the core to maintain the latter in said fully inserted position but such frictional engagement is not great enough to interfere with the easy removal of the core nor its full insertion in said cavity. Alternatively the core may be provided with a thickened part, not shown, along the upper edge or edges of the casing walls 36 so as to frictionally engage the upper edge portions of the pole pieces and/ or the flanges 20. Other means may also be used for this purpose.

In use, the core 30 is inserted into the cavity 24 of the housing, at least a sufficient distance to magnetize the pole pieces. Articles or material that will be magnetically attracted will be held on the exterior of the housing so long as the core is disposed in said housing.

Release of such material from the housing is effected by removal of the core therefrom. The material will immediately drop from the housing.

It has been found that with this arrangement, even fine particles that are susceptible to magnetic attraction will immediately fall from the housing. Also, it has been found that such fine material will not crawl or move upwardly along the outer sides of the housing walls as the core 30 is removed from the housing. This is important because should material move upwardly to the top of the housing it would be attracted to the core and become attached thereto. Should this fine material become attached to the core, difliculty would be encountered in trying to remove the material from said core.

In FIG. there is a housing assembly 50 similar to housing assembly 10, the housing thereof having side walls 12a, a bottom wall 14a, and end 'walls 16a, all of said walls being of non-magnetic material of any suitable character. The pole pieces 18 are secured in the housing in a manner similar to that of the housing 10.

There is included in the housing assembly 50 additional means for preventing magnetic material and particularly fine magnetic material from getting onto the core when the latter is removed. This additional means comprises a flange 52 which extends outwardly from the upper edges of the side walls 12a and the end walls 16a and about the cavity 24a and traps such material at the under side. The flange may be of any desired size and may extend outwardly at any angle effective to prevent magnetic material on the sides and/ or end walls from getting onto the core as it is removed, the flange being shown as outwardly and downwardly curved.

A core such as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 is used with the housing of FIG. 10 and while magnetic material on the outside of the housing will normally not creep upwardly or become magnetically attached to the core as the latter is removed, there may be some circumstances when additional means, such as the flange 52, may be needed as when a very large mass of fine magnetic material is on the outside of the housing.

In FIG. 8 there is a housing which does not have pole pieces therein. This housing, indicated generally at 55, is of any suitable non-magnetic material and has side walls 56, end walls 58, and a bottom wall 60, these walls defining a cavity 62 which is open at the top, as viewed in FIG. 8. There is also a flange 64 which extends outwardly of the upper edges of the side and end walls 56 and 58 respectively and about the open upper end of the cavity 62.

In the arrangement of FIG. 8 the flange 64 serves as the means for preventing magnetic material on the outside of the housing from sliding or creeping upwardly along the outer surfaces of said side and end walls and onto the core when the latter is removed, such magnetic material being trapped at the under side of said flange 64. Flange 64, of course, may be of other shape and size to prevent magnetic material from getting onto the core when the latter is removed.

The core shown in FIG. 9 is used with the housing shown in FIG. 8 or with the housing 50 and said core includes a permanent magnetic element 70 which may be of any suitable character and type but is shown as a ceramic wafer 72. The wafer 72 is also magnetized parallel with its thickness and there are poles 74 and 76 at the sides thereof, said poles extending the length of the wafer. The poles are formed of a continuous sheet of suitable soft iron or the like with a handle 78 at the top, as shown in FIG. 9. The handle 78 connects the poles 74 and 76 along the top edges and may be horse shoe shaped in cross section with grooves 80 between the top longitudinal edges of said poles and the adjacent portions of the handle.

The pole pieces 74 and 76 may be se arate from each other and from the handle, the various parts being secured to the magnetic element by any suitable means such as, for example, an adhesive.

It is to be understood, of course, that other types of magnetics may he used for a core or as a core, and the type of core shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 may be used in the type of housing shown in FIG. 8. Further, the type of magnetic core shown in FIG. 9 may be used in the types of housings shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 and 10.

Broadly, the invention comprises a non-magnetic housing having walls defining a cavity, a magnetic element removably receivable in said cavity, and means for preventing or inhibiting magnetic material magnetically attached to the exterior of the housing by the magnetic element, when disposed in said cavity, from getting onto the magnetic element when the latter is removed from said cavity. There are also, of course, certain perfecting elements and/ or features which are readily apparent from the foregoing description.

While the arrangement shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 and 10 have pole pieces, which are magnetically energized, at the sides of the housing, a pole piece may be disposed at the bottom of the housing and energized magnetically by a suitable magnetic element when the latter is placed in proximity to said pole piece. Magnetizable material will then be held on the outer surface of the housing opposite the pole piece until the magnetic element is removed from such proximity and from the housing whereupon the pole piece becomes deenergized or demagnetized and such material on the outside of the housing will drop off. The housing in the various arrangements herein shown and described may be considered a collecting element as the magnetizable material is collected on said housing when the magnetic element is disposed therein.

The invention and many of its attendant advantages will be understood from the foregoing description and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction, and arrangement of the parts of the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof or sacrificing its material advantages, the forms hereinbefore described being used merely as examples.

I claim:

1. In a magnetic device: a housing of non-magnetic material defining a closed cavity except for an access opening; a permanent magnetic element in said cavity for magnetically attracting magnetic material onto the exterior of said housing, said permanent magnetic element being removable from said cavity through said access opening; and means for preventing magnetic material magnetically attached to the housing from attachment to said magnetic element when the latter is removed from the cavity of said housing.

2. In a magnetic device: a hollow housing of nonmagnetic material, said housing having an open side, the other sides of said housing comprising walls forming a barrier against entrance into said housing of magnetizable material when magnetically held. on said walls; a permanent magnetic element in said housing and completely removable from said open side; and means for preventing material magnetically held on the exterior of the housing by the magnetic element when disposed in said housing from becoming attached to said magnetic element as the latter is removed from said housing.

3. In a housing for a magnetic device: side and end walls and a bottom wall defining a cavity having an access opening; and a flange extending outwardly of the top edges of said walls and entirely about said access opening of said cavity for preventing material slidable on the exterior of said walls from entering said cavity, said walls and flange being of non-magnetic material.

4. The invention defined by claim 3 wherein there are a pair of oppositely arranged pole pieces spaced laterally apart from each other and secured at oppositely disposed walls of said housing.

5. In amagnetic device: a housing having side and end Walls and a bottom wall, said walls being of non-magnetic material and defining a cavity opening to the exterior of said housing; a flange extending outwardly about said opening for preventing magnetizable material on the exterior from entering said cavity opening; and a permanent magnet removably receivable in said cavity and through said opening.

6. In a magnetic device: a relatively fiat hollow housing having a rectangular opening at one edge and into the hollow interior thereof; a relatively fiat permanent magnet in said housing and removable therefrom through said opening; and means for preventing material magnetically held on the exterior of said housing by the magnet when disposed in said housing from getting onto said magnet as said magnet is removed from the housing.

7. In a magnetic device: a housing of non-magnetic material having side walls spaced laterally apart, end walls and a bottom wall, said housing having an access opening at the top and having grooves in the respective corners extending from the top to bottom thereof and in planes parallel to the adjacent side Walls; a pair of temporarily magnetizable flat pole pieces disposed in the housing and adjacent to the respective sides thereof with end portions of said pole pieces disposed in respective grooves, whereby said pole pieces are held against lateral displacement,

said pole pieces being spaced apart laterally in parallel relationship to each other; a relatively flat permanent magnetic element magnetized parallel to the thickness thereof and removably slidable into the space between the pole pieces to thereby magnetize said pole pieces in accordance with the respective signs at the opposite sides of said magnetic element, said magnetic element being slidable into and out of said housing through said access opening in a plane parallel to the planes of said pole pieces.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,417,762 3/1947 Koller 317- 159 2,904,364 9/1959 -Kordi 3l7159 2,990,155 6/1961 Selinder 317 19l 3,079,535 2/1963 Schultz 317201 FOREIGN PATENTS 818,692 8/1959 Great Britain.

ROBERT K. SCHAEFER, Acting Primary Examiner.

SAMUEL BERNSTEIN, E. JAMES SAX, JOHN F.

BURNS, LARAMIE E. ASKIN, Examiners. 

1. IN A MAGNETIC DEVICE: A HOUSING OF NON-MAGNETIC MATERIAL DEFINING A CLOSED CAVITY EXCEPT FOR AN ACCESS OPENING; A PERMANENT MAGNETIC ELEMENT IN SAID CAVITY FOR MAGNETICALLY ATTRACTING MAGNETIC MATERIAL ONTO THE INTERIOR OF SAID HOUSING, SAID PERMANENT MAGNETIC ELEMENT BEING REMOVABLE FROM SAID CAVITY THROUGH SAID ACCESS OPENING; 